Ghostbusters: Legacy Monolith of Shadow
by Kingpin1055
Summary: The new team of Ghostbusters investige an archiological dig


A/N Sorry this took so long to finish and upload! :)  
  
People become heroes by great acts, all human beings possess this power, but there are only a few who get the chance to show it. If you get that chance, don't waste it.  
  
Chapter One  
  
8:00AM  
  
Feburary 29th, 2242  
  
The wooden door creaked in the early morning breeze as he sipped a mug of cola. Zack stared at the old portal that was in the middle of the larger garage doors that allowed the fire engines to exit the building, the corners of the large doors had become eroded and curved after the many years that the building had remained abandoned.  
  
"If we're going to be staying here then we need a bit more security then that." He said moments before he downed the rest of his cup of soda and stood up from the desk. They would later establish that the old desk he'd been sitting at used to belong to the Ghostbusters' secratary, Janine. He crossed over to the stairs as the grey morning light floated through the dirty windows. It had been a tiring past couple of hours, they had spent most of the night establishing what the Firehouse had to offer them, there would be a lot of work needed to be done to bring the building up to basic standards, but before they could even do that they had to get some money in. The warped boards creaked beneath his feet as he climbed the wooden staircase. "Ah, I see I'm not the only awake." He spoke loudly.  
  
"Agghh! Don't talk so loud!" Alex pleaded as she sat back down in a dusty diningroom chair, her glasses askew from her half-heartedly placing them on her nose. Her hair was let loose instead of in the tidy ponytail she had it in the day before.  
  
"Your glasses are askew." He pointed out as he tested the water supply, it splurted and spluttered out, not much pressure at best.  
  
"Oh." She hadn't noticed, when he saw her again her glasses were now straightened. He brought over two soda and two mugs .  
  
"Sorry, it's the only thing in this place in date and has caffine." He handed her a Ghostbusters mug.  
  
"Doesn't matter." She greatfully took the drink.  
  
"One hell of a night wasn't it?" He asked as he popped the ringpull of the can.  
  
"For not actually doing anything, yes." She commented as she poured her drink.  
  
"Well, we've got to get things done today." He admitted as he watched the carbon bubbles rise to the top of the mug.  
  
"Yes, first we've got to find out how much of the equipment still works, we can interchange parts if neccesary." She suggested before she took a swig from the drink.  
  
"Yeah." He replied.  
  
"And we also must find out if there are any important pieces of equipment that need repairing quickly, like the Containment Unit." She took another swig from her drink as she thought over what equipment the Ghostbusters had used.  
  
"Then there's the Firehouse itself." He pointed out.  
  
"Indeed, first we need power. I'm sure I can get us hooked back into the national grid. But there's also the problem of outdated technology, the wiring needs to be redone, the building needs a major clean and the security around here is near none-existant."  
  
"So we're gonna need a ton of money." he grimanced.  
  
"We'll have to put the equipment and building repairs top priority, luxuries will have to wait." She said, slightly dissapointed herself.  
  
"But to get money we need a job, and I doubt the phone would be ringing off the hook even if it were still connected." Zack said as Alex finished her drink.  
  
"I have a connection with somebody inside the New York Times, he can get us a small spot. Maybe an advert as well." he looked surprised.  
  
"Well, now we know that we need to keep you." he joked.  
  
"Oh, I think I could have blackmailed my way onto the team, afterall you must have a record." she wore a mischevious smile.  
  
"You're one dangerous lady."  
  
"Don't try to flatter me." she picked up a dusty newspaper and flung it at him.  
  
"Oh, now she gets nasty." Zack said as a figure descended the spiral staircase.  
  
"I don't know about you two, but some people are trying to sleep." An irritated British accent complained.  
  
"Nice to see you too Ryan." Zack brushed dust off of his black t-shirt, he didn't bother to turn around to look at his friend.  
  
"What bloody time do you call this anyway?" Ryan asked as he walked over to the breakfast/lunch/dinner table.  
  
"About a quarter past eight." Alex glanced from her digital watch to the dischevelled mechanic. He wore a pair of faded jeans and a white t-shirt, his mechanic overalls that he'd worn when he arrived the previous day were back upstairs. His messed up hair showed how rough a night he'd had.  
  
"Ouch. Is there anything to eat here?" He asked as he joined them at the table.  
  
"Nothing that has a sell by date older than two centuries." Zack replied said as he studied the frontpage of the old newspaper.  
  
"I should have expected that." He opened a soda and drank from the can.  
  
"We need to do a lot of work today if we're going reopen the Ghostbusters' business." Alex said as she started to tie her hair back.  
  
"Well, How about I go get some food for breakfast while you two start sorting out the equipment?" Ryan offered.  
  
"Sounds like a good idea, I've got about twenty dollars plus whatever's in the cab." Zack delved into his pockets and pulled out several crumpled notes.  
  
"Fifty." Alex deposited a small stack of notes on the pile.  
  
"And I've got thirty." Ryan deposited whatever he had on the pile.  
  
"One-hundred dollars, that should be able to get breakfast and put some food in the cupboards."  
  
"We can also get whatever supplies we have back at our seperate apartments." Zack said as he turned to one of the inside pages of the newspaper.  
  
"Any preference?" Ryan asked as he picked up the money.  
  
"Something with fibre in it." Alex said.  
  
"Get some coffee while you're shopping, I can guess we're going to be needing alot of it in the future." Zack replied, again not looking up from what he was doing.  
  
"I'll be back in about a hour or two." Ryan decended the stairs to the garage and left the building, they heard the muted sound of his truck's engine start and fly off.  
  
"You want to start with the equipment in the basement?" Zack asked as he looked at her over the top of the page.  
  
"Yeah, most of the stuff in the lab isn't completely built yet." She finished putting her hair into a ponytail and she stood up from the table, he followed and they walked down to the garage.  
  
Chapter Two  
  
"Nnngg!" Zack grunted as he pulled the rusty equipment locker door. The door opened with a high pitched sqeal which echoed around the cavernous basement.  
  
"That'll need oiling." Alex observed, removing a hand from her ear after hearing the noise.  
  
"Right, let's see what we have." Zack said as they looked inside, the first locker had a Proton Pack, Slime Blower and a PKE meter.  
  
"Not bad selection of equipment." Alex said as she finished rummaging through the locker. The second locker opened more easily. "Same again." Alex sighed as they unloaded the equipment onto a work table nearby, she discovered that the cyclotron housing was coming loose on the pack from the locker they'd just opened.  
  
"Let's see what's behind door number three." Zack joked. The locker opened releasing a cloud of dust and a dust covered envelope. "Eck!" Zack coughed.  
  
"Dustier then the rest of them." Alex said as she rummaged through the locker. Zack picked up the envelope and placed it on the work table, they'd read whatever was in it later.  
  
"What's that rifle?" Zack asked as Alex picked up the odd looking piece of equipment that was stowed with the regular selection of equipment.  
  
"I think it's a Ectoplasmic Destabiliser." They moved onto the fourth locker which was lying face-down on the floor.  
  
"Banged up a lot more then the rest of them." Zack grunted, Alex checked the area next to the locker as he lifted it back up into a upright position, several pieces of metal slid down the back of the door.  
  
"Looks like something here overloaded during the time the basement was sealed." Alex commented as she dropped a piece of shrapnel that had the remains of a control panel on it.  
  
"From what I heard inside, it doesn't sound promicing." Zack said as Alex opened the blackened door.  
  
"Hmm." Alex frowned, Inside was a selection of severly broken equipment. A Proton Pack that was missing it's gun and had a missing damaged cyclotron housing, a PKE meter that was missing it's antennia and had a cracked screen, a Slime Blower with a smashed tank and the remains of a proton gun, most likely the gun from the gunless pack. Inside there also was a slightly damaged Gieger Meter.  
  
"That doesn't look good." Zack picked up the broken Proton Gun, the tip of the gun and the grip fell to the floor, a panel also fell off causing a cascade of wiring and circuitry to spill out.  
  
"We could probably salvage some of the equipment." Alex commented as they cleared out the larger portions of scrap metal and debris.  
  
"It's not looking good, we're only got three intact proton packs and we have a bunch of equipment that needs a serious overhaul." Zack said.  
  
"If I can find the plans then I might be able to put that Proton Pack and some of the other equipment back together." Alex said as she started to examine the pack's construction. Zack picked up what looked like a cake tin that had been caved in the middle, a bumper was hanging on the end, only one of it's support struts still attached to the housing. Most of the three red cyclotron light lenses were broken, and some more stray wiring clung onto the cyclotron housing. He dumped the casing and examined a intact PKE meter.  
  
"Should we have a break?" Zack asked as he cleaned the dust off of the PKE meter's screen.  
  
"I guess we could, I need to make notes of how much equipment we'll need to even out the arsenal between us." She sat down in a desk chair while Zack sat down on the table.  
  
"Let's see what this says." He muttered as he blew the dust from the surface of the envelope. A message on the envelope read "To whoever finds this letter". Zack opened the envelope and pulled out a yellowed folded piece of paper, it was a letter.  
  
"February 28th, 2002. To those who have found this letter..." Zack began reading out loud.  
  
***  
  
(*"...congratulations in discovering the basement, this hopefully means that you are a member of a new team of Ghostbusters. In the four equipment lockers, you'll find an even assortment of equipment, except for the Ectoplasmic Destabiliser and the Geiger Mter. If any of the equipment requires repairing then you should be able to find the original plans and circuit diagrams in my desk in the lab. Hopefully when you find the Ecto-1 it should still be in working order, if however it is beyond use then I ask you to move it into the engine repair bay that runs parallel with the Firehouse in the alley. In there you will find some other pieces of equipment as well as pieces of memorabilia that didn't find a home in the main building. I'm am writing this letter in hope that a new team of Ghostbusters have taken over the business, I planned on starting up a new team but didn't tell my colleagues as I didn't want to disrupt their lives now that they had gone their seperate ways..."*)  
  
"Hey Egon, are you down there?" Janine called from the basement door.  
  
"I'll be back up there in about three minutes."  
  
"Okay, it's just because the guys are here." Egon sighed and started writing again.  
  
(*"By the time you read this we probably will be dead and won't be able to help you, I wish you goodluck in your fight against the supernatual and godspeed. Yours Sincerely, Professor Egon Spengler."*) Egon walked over to the equipment locker and placed the enevelope with the letter in the top shelf of the third locker.  
  
"I pray someone will eventually find this letter." He walked over to the stairs and ascended them to the garage.  
  
***  
  
"Wow, that letter was dated the same day they died." Alex removed her glasses and rubbed her forehead after hearing the letter. "He intended someone to find it, he actually went behind his friends' backs by not telling them his plan." Zack said as he re-read the letter.  
  
"People can be very surprising." She said.  
  
"Yeah." He sighed and placed the letter back in it's envelope. "He mentioned where he kept the plans." He said.  
  
"Which is good, otherwise we might have be searching all over this building for those plans." She said.  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Ryan stared at the cashier and the cashier stared back, locked in stalemate.  
  
"I've counted it all and it only comes to fifty-nine dollars." Ryan stood his ground.  
  
"Well I'm sure you're a great mathmatician but the machine is never wrong."  
  
"Trust me, I'm a mechanic. Machines can and will go wrong." He narrowed his eyes at the cashier.  
  
"Sir if you don't give me the appropriate cash, I'm going to call the security guard and have you escorted outside." The line behind groaned at more waiting.  
  
"Look, I'll type it up on a calculator." Ryan pulled out a calculator from his jeans pocket and started typing.  
  
"Cereal: $15.00, coffee: $20.00, bread: $10.00 and jam: $14.00. Added together that equals..." He pressed the equal button on the calculator. "Exactly fifty-nine dollars." He showed the small hollow display to the cashier as proof, the cashier grumbled and placed the groceries in the paper bag. The line behind him applauded. "Thankyou." he welcomed their applause.  
  
"Next customer." the cashier called as Ryan left the grocery store. He walked into the small courtyard that madeup the hovercar park. A copy of the New York Times was stuffed into the bag of shopping that he'd picked up to add some supplys to the Firehouse's empty kitchen. The newspaper fell out of the bag as he opened the door into the pilot cabin of the recovery truck.  
  
"Blast." He placed the bags on the passenger seat as he bent down to pick up the newspaper. The front page article read "Unusual occurances reported in Brooklyn." (*"Knowing our luck, we'll probably be going there."*) Ryan thought as rain splattered onto the front page as the downpour began. Ryan picked up the paper and sat in the pilot's seat as the main downpour began. The windscreen wipers cleaned the rain from the glass as he piloted the truck towards the Tribeca district and the Firehouse. The rain was even worse below the "no fly zone" as the clouds of fog were thicker than usual. Lightning illuminated the ruined city streets as Ryan parked the truck outside the Firehouse. Thunder crashed loudly as he closed the pilot cabin door and ran across the cracked asphalt to the wooden main doors of the Firehouse. Slaming the door closed behind him he walked over to Janine's desk and deposited the grocery bags on it. "I'm back!" Thunder rumbled outside as the garage was lit up by the lightning, only the lamp on Janine's desk lit the room in between lightning flashes. "Guys?!" He walked over to the steps to the basement. He found Alex and Zack in the basement sorting out a pile of equipment parts. "We now have food!" This caught their attention.  
  
"Great! we'll be up in a few minutes." Zack called up from his position near the equipment lockers.  
  
"I'll go stock up the cupboards." Ryan called back, he ascended back up the stairs. Once he reached the garage level he walked over to Janine's desk. Picking up the grocery bags he made his way to the steps to the day room. The day room was as dark as the garage, nobody had bothered to turn on any lights. Ryan stocked the now-empty cupboards with the little provisions he'd bought. A floorboard creaked behind him, he turned to see nothing. "Hmfth." He turned back to stacking the food, the raindrops sliding down the cracked kitchen window as he did so. The floorboards creaked again and again there was nobody there. (*"Good one Ryan, you're hearing things. This is what those late nights will do to you."*) a table crashed to the floor somewhere behind him. "I know I heard that!" He picked up a leg from the collapsed table near the window and held it like a club. "Who's there?" A sudden flash illuminated a figure near the rusty, brass fire pole. "Turn around!" The figure turned in the gloom. Another sudden flash illuminated an object in his hand that looked like a pistol. "Aaggh!" Ryan charged the stranger and they both toppled to the floor. The room then lit up as the ceiling light was turned on.  
  
"Ryan! Bax! what are you two doing?!" Alex shouted, Ryan and Bax paused and recognised each other. Bax's raised left fist was inches from Ryan's face, Ryan's club was only inces from Bax's head.  
  
"Don't do that!" Ryan shouted as he lowered his weapon and stood up.  
  
"You attacked me, I was only acting in self defence!" Bax argued in his defence as Ryan helped him up.  
  
"Then you shouldn't lurk, god I could have given you a concussion." He tossed the leg to the floor and collapsed into a armchair.  
  
"Well, I guess then that would make us even." Bax joked as leaned on a desk, it creaked as he shifted to one end of the desk.  
  
"You two have an old score?" Zack asked in amusement.  
  
"Yeah. Back when I was still living in London, Bax had spent some time with the London Met over there. I'd been in a pub having a drink when a brawl had ensued, one thing led to another and almost everybody in the pub was fighting. He'd also been in the pub and so he came along, got punched in the chest and so had landed a right hook on my left eye. He apologised after finding out I had nothing to do with throwing that punch at him and he offered to buy me a drink, we then got talking about our careers and swapped stories." Ryan mused, absently rubbing a hand under his left eye.  
  
"You'd be surprised how much beer this guy can drink and still stay semi- sober." Bax said as he adjusted his crumpled NYPD jumper.  
  
"Well, now that you're awake you can know the plan." Alex said as she tried to stifle a laugh.  
  
"And that is?" Bax asked.  
  
"How we're going to resurect Ghostbusters International."  
  
Chapter Three  
  
They stood in front of the taxi, most of them not sure what to make of it.  
  
"So, what do you think?" Ryan asked. The cab was pretty much the same, except the taxi sign on the roof was replaced by a series of piping and outdated emergency lights. The taxi company logo was replaced by the Ghostbusters logo on a piece of torn metal welded to the door's bodywork.  
  
"Um, I'm not quite sure what to make of it." Zack stared in disbelief, he ran a hand through his hair as he tried to comprehend what had been done to his cab.  
  
"It's...unusual." Alex commented.  
  
"It's only a temporary measure until I can get some real work done on it." Ryan mused, almost like an artist not happy with a final result.  
  
"Won't people think we're a bunch of weirdos if we turn up in a cab, which has a bunch of Ghostbusters equipment stuck on it?" Zack examined the work.  
  
"Would it be weirder if we turned up in a cab with no rear bumper and scrape marks the size of pool cues?" Ryan asked, They agreed.  
  
"Well, If we've got a car then we need to fix the equipment." Bax said.  
  
"That's going to be the hardest task so far until we get some money to fix up the place and build new equipment." Alex commented.  
  
"Well, I'm sure our mechanic and computer expert will be able to handle that easily." Zack said as he walked away from his cab.  
  
"If you're worried about where I got the equipment, It was stored in the repair bay." Ryan explained.  
  
"No, it's nice that you didn't remove the stuff from Ecto-1, it's just that did you have to weld it onto the door, couldn't you have painted it on?"  
  
"I would have if I could have."  
  
"I guess it'll do for now, but as soon as we have enough cash, we're going to have to design how it's going to be put together."  
  
"Agreed, as it's you cab Zack you'll have a degree of decision in the customisation." Ryan tightened something on the roof that he'd noticed was still loose.  
  
"I think I'll keep the customisation to the same degree as that of the Ecto- 1, seeing as this should be a time honoured tradition."  
  
"A sentimentalist? I never would have thought you were one, Zack." Ryan joked.  
  
"I can be surprising."  
  
"Right. We've established that this is going to be the car. What's the situation with the equipment?" Bax asked.  
  
"Yes, the equipment. There was a complication when Zack and myself were going through the equipment. At present we have three working Proton Packs, three working Slime Blowers, three working Traps and two possibly working PKEs. We have two damaged Proton Packs and a damaged Slime Blower. We also have a Ectoplasmic Distaboiliser, damaged PKE meter and a damaged Geiger Meter."  
  
"Which means we don't have enough equipment to equip the whole team, great." Bax sat down in a chair. A sombre look was on Ryan's face.  
  
"Not neccesary. Professor Spengler left plans of the equipment in case they'd need repairing." Alex tried to reassure them.  
  
"Do you know how long it will take to rebuild them?" Ryan asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, if I work all day and don't take any rests then maybe 48 hours. I'd need your help Ryan."  
  
"Sure. Just call me when you need me."  
  
"You'll be needing me." Zack spoke.  
  
"Zack?" Alex was surprised by his offer.  
  
"It was my idea for restarting the business, I must do my share of the work."  
  
"I'll help as well, there's no point in me not doing anything while you guys fix those packs." Bax said.  
  
"I can definately see the team spirit here." Zack joked.  
  
"Looks like we'll be finishing sooner then expected." Alex pushed her glasses back up her nose, she wore a grin as she spoke.  
  
"Why haven't you gotten those fixed?" Ryan commented in her pushing her glasses.  
  
"It's one of the things that makes me intresting." Alex smiled.  
  
Chapter Four  
  
"Right, these proton packs have a single 5000 year half life non-harmful nuclear voltaic powercell with a energy rating of 22,000. And can be extremely dangerous."  
  
"Hold on, I thought you said these were non-harmful?" Zack asked.  
  
"They are non-harmful when in one piece. They are extremely dangerous if accidentally turned on while partially dismantled, so I must warn you not to turn it on by accident."  
  
"What would happen if we did?" Bax asked.  
  
"This building, us and a circumference of about half a mile would be reduced to a smoking crater." All three of them stared in shock. "Which is why I really need to stress that issue." She smiled as she picked up a screwdriver.  
  
"Where shall we start?" Zack asked as he picked up the dented casing.  
  
"By dismantling the main pack casing and removing the damaged parts." Alex searched a nearby desk and was rewarded with a sheet of faded blue paper.  
  
"We'll be needing this." Alex placed the set of plans on the table.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
They stood in front of their achievement with shared gladness.  
  
"Nice work guys." Alex leant forward and tested the previously-broken Proton Pack. It vibrated with a loud hum.  
  
"And the Slime Blower and PKE also work?" Zack asked.  
  
"Yes, but we only have one definate working PKE. I had to swap parts so that we could have one working meter, as soon as we get money into the equipment fund then I can build more." Alex explained while Ryan looked at his watch, it was 12:03AM.  
  
"Well, It's incredibly late now. Maybe we should call it a night and start moving stuff in tomorrow?" Ryan asked as he wiped his forehead.  
  
"Good idea." Alex said as she lead them from the lab to the bunkroom, each Ghostbuster choose the bed they had slept in the night before and crashed. Just before drifting off into sleep, Zack programmed his watch to go off at 8:00AM.  
  
Chapter Six  
  
A quite beeping rang through the bunkroom as Zack's alarm rang.  
  
"Quieten it or I'll break it." Zack heard Bax mutter. He immediantly turned the alarm off and blinked the sleep away. The moth eaten curtains had remained open during the night, but as sunlight hadn't passed through the windows in two decades it didn't make much of a difference.  
  
"Wakey wakey." Zack shook Ryan's shoulder.  
  
"You the early bird or what?" Ryan slowly rose from his bed.  
  
"If we're going to be Ghostbusters then we're going to start getting up earlier." They walked down to the day room/kitchen and started aranging breakfast.  
  
"Here, this should help wake you up." Zack handed a cup of coffee to Ryan.  
  
"Coffee, a lot stronger then the soda." he gratefully took the cup.  
  
"The way I figure it, that we'll probably have to do about 20-30 jobs on the Ghostbusters' old price guide before we can start updating the equipment and Firehouse. But we'll have to do a lot of work to make enough money to fully update them."  
  
"And we need training." Ryan said, still partially asleep.  
  
"According to the files in the filing cabinet downstairs, the Ghostbusters never had any training before their first case. We'll be at the same point as them."  
  
"That's very encouraging." Ryan replied miserably into his cup. A shrill ringing downstairs startled them.  
  
"What's that?" Zack asked.  
  
"Don't you know anything about the past? That'll be that antique phone on the desk downstairs." Ryan walked down the stairs and picked up the dusty handpiece.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Er, I can't see you." the voice on the other side of the phone stated.  
  
"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong on your side. What can I do for you?"  
  
"Is this the er...Ghostbusters?"  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"I've got a bit of a problem, I work at the Manhattan Cultural History Museum, Archeological Department and we've been having some odd occurances during restoration work we've been carrying out."  
  
"Well, could you give me the address and your name and we'll be there as soon as possible." Zack stood watching him on the staircase.  
  
"Thanks." the voice replied and Ryan then placed the handset down. He looked around on the desk and slammed his hand down on a a button on a metal base, all he got for his trouble was a whiring sound from a rusty alarm on the wall.  
  
"Why did you do that?" Zack asked as he folded his arms.  
  
"Don't know, felt kind of appropriate though." he grinned.  
  
"Yeah well, that alarm will need replacing with most of the other stuff around here." he dropped his cup as he tried to steady himself on the banister rail.  
  
"Are you okay?" Ryan asked.  
  
"Yeah, more of this damn liquified mould. How does it get everywhere?"  
  
"Well I've never seen anything like it, maybe we should get an expert in." Ryan suggested.  
  
"Nah, it wouldn't be worth it." Zack rubbed some of the slime between his fingers. "Yuck." He muttered.  
  
"It's funny." Ryan joined him on the landing.  
  
"What?" Zack asked as he wiped the mould onto the wall.  
  
"You'd think that phone would have been disconnected by now.  
  
"Huh, I never really though about that."  
  
***  
  
"Are you sure these guys are professionals?" The archeologist next to him asked.  
  
"I'm sure, if they're anything like their predicessors then there's noting to worry about."  
  
"And if they're not?"  
  
"If not, then we'd better start thinking about transferring to another museum."  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
The cab's engine rumbled loudly in the room as they loaded up the equipment.  
  
"Have we got everything?" Alex called from the passenger seat.  
  
"If we don't then it's too late to go back and check." Zack closed his door and pulled the cab up, it passed through the cloud that marked the "no fly zone".  
  
"So where are we going?" Bax asked.  
  
"An archeological site on Fifth Avenue and 44th Street. They've been restoring the old Empire State."  
  
"I wonder what they disturbed."  
  
"Well we'll soon find out." Zack said as he piloted the cab into the morning traffic.  
  
***  
  
It stirred in the darkness, It had lain undisturbed for nealy two decades. But it had been disturbed by the humans. It rose from it's place of slumber and roamed the empty corridors. It stalked past abandonned utility areas that were almost as old as it. The bones of it's previous meals dripped with the liquids which made up it's body. It moaned in the darkness as the hunger returned again. It could sense prey ahead of it, it yearned to taste their warm flesh and drink their refreshing blood. But it knew enough to limit how many of the humans to devour, if they discovered a problem then more humans would come, and not all of them would give up without a fight. It moaned again as the hunger slowly became worse.  
  
"Hush, your hunger shall be gone soon." The voice spoke. It always spoke as if it was in it's mind. It always spoke when it was getting ready to eat. "I must warn you, there are some humans that are coming that have weapons that can harm you. You must be quick or they will catch you." It moved into a corridor that was brighter then most of the other rooms that it inhabited. It hated the light which poured through the opening, It stayed in the welcoming shadows.  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
The cab slowed and landed on the small hovercarpark that ajoined the site. The blackened spire of the anchient building rose like a monolith into the morning sky. A banner nearby read "Manhattan Cultural History Museum, briging the forgotten New York to light." The Ghostbusters stepped out of the cab onto the concrete and stared in uneasy silence at the imposing structure, each member of the team was wearing a jumpsuit that they'd found in the repair bay and had dusted down, none of the flightsuits were the same colour.  
  
"Friendly looking place isn't it?" Zack commented.  
  
"And to think this used to be the crowning jewel in the Old Manhattan skyline, it is a shame." The group turned to the source of the voice. "I'm Dr. Torrence, leader of this excavation. You must be the Ghostbusters?" A man asked, he looked to be in his mid-50s, his hair was grey, but not balding.  
  
"Correct." Alex said.  
  
"Could you please show us where you've been having the problems?" Ryan asked the archeologist.  
  
"It's right in front of you. We've been trying to restore it in time for the 250th anniversary of the destruction of Old Manhattan but we've hit some major problems."  
  
"Wasn't yesterday the 240th anniversary?" Zack asked.  
  
"Correct, though City Hall prefers to have it done by 2252."  
  
"So what's the problem that you've been having?"  
  
"Well we've already been working on this project for 10 years now, but the disapearances started when we opened up the lift shafts and stair wells."  
  
"Open up? I thought that they would already be open."  
  
"You're quite right in thinking that, it seems when the reconstruction work was started by the government back in 2090, that they sealed up most of the surviving buildings after construction crews kept dissapearing. But the disapearances were never investigated and it now seems that we've started them up again with the work we've been doing."  
  
"Where are your crews stationed?" Bax asked.  
  
"We have the main crew stationed up here, but the smaller crew that has lost many of it's members is stationed at ground level." Alex pulled out the aged PKE meter and turned it on, the screen's dial showed the levels of PKE in the area amid the static that was also present on the screen.  
  
"Is that what you're going to be using?" Dr. Torrence asked.  
  
"Yes." Alex said.  
  
"It's just that I thought that you would have more up to date equipment."  
  
"It's the original equipment, we don't have the money yet to update it."  
  
"Oh, I see. Well it's incredible that it still works." Dr. Torrence examined the meter.  
  
"Where can we get in?" Bax asked.  
  
"There's a elevator that we installed that will take you up to the Empire State's Observation Deck."  
  
"Okay, Is there anybody else in there?" Zack asked as he looked at the building.  
  
"No, everyone was ordered out when we were sure of the dissapearances."  
  
"Good. We shouldn't be in there too long, it's probably going to be a simple case." Ryan said, while hoping that he would be right.  
  
"Well, may I go along with you? Apart from seeing this extrodinary equipment in action I am the foremost expert on this building's history, I can help guide you around."  
  
"Okay, but make sure that you stay clear of these beams as they could be dangerous." Alex warned.  
  
"Of course." Dr. Torrence smiled a friendly smile on his 50-somthing face.  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
The work elevator shook as the gate was locked and slowly ascended up the scarred and dirtied side of the building. Broken windows leered like jagged, sharp teeth.  
  
"If you're wondering why we set up a elevator here instead of having a normal 'Basecamp' on ground level it is beacuse we have limited acess below the 'no fly zone'. New Manhattan City Hall is wary about allowing many people down there so we've had to make some changes to how we do things." The elevator arrived at the Observation Deck level. The Observation Deck had remained almost the same excluding the dirt and litter that had accumulated over the two centuries.  
  
"Is there any power supplied to the building?" Bax asked.  
  
"Only to the elevators and very limited lighting systems." The group stared at him. "They were in the process of fixing the lighting when the first disapearances occured." He explained.  
  
"So we're going to be doing this in pitch black?" Zack asked.  
  
"Yes, but I brought along helmets that have lights so that you also have the added protection in case anything lose in there decides to fall. There will be a lot of lose debris littered about the building."  
  
"Just a question Dr. Torrence, how many people are missing?" Ryan asked out of curiousity.  
  
"About twenty people."  
  
"This isn't going to be easy." Alex pushed a button to call up one of the building's elevators.  
  
"Why didn't you call us sooner?" Zack asked.  
  
"Apart from the fact that we only saw your advert yesterday, we didn't want to cause a media frenzy that would almost certainly close the project permanently." The elevator arrived at the Observation Deck level. A muffled "ping" rang as the rusted doors slowly parted. The small car was littered with scraps of office paper and broken glass.  
  
"Which floor?" Zack asked  
  
"We'll be taking the elevator to the lobby, and then the service elevator to the basment." Dr. Torrence said.  
  
"Ground Floor, books and langerie." Ryan joked. The muffled bell sounded again as the elevator slowly decended into the darkened skyscraper.  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
The elevator doors slid open realing darkness. They stepped out into the small patch of light created by the light spilling out of the elevator car. Five spots of light appeared on the walls and ceiling as the Ghostbusters and Dr. Torrence switched on their helmet torches.  
  
"This place feels like a tomb." Bax shivered slightly in the cold, damp chamber.  
  
"A fitting description for somewhere where people have gone missing." Ryan studied the cobweb covered desk that two centuries previous had been used by the security guard.  
  
"Alex, have you tested the PKE down here yet?" Zack asked as the sound of the elevator doors closing echoed around the large, dark Lobby.  
  
"Not yet." Alex switched the handheld device back on and a sixth light source joined the torches.  
  
"Anything?" Zack stood next to her to try read the screen.  
  
"Yes, I'm getting residual readings in this room, and stronger readings coming from that doorway over there." The torches illuminated the door she pointed the meter at.  
  
"Where does that door go Dr. Torrence?" Ryan asked as he studied the door's lock.  
  
"That would be the staircase, unlike the lifts it spans the whole height of the building including the sub levels." Ryan and Zack pushed open the metal door. A cool breeze drifted out of the shaft.  
  
"Should we?" Zack gestured into the darkness.  
  
"I'd much prefer not." Dr. Torrence said.  
  
"Something wrong Dr. Torrence?" Bax faced the archeologist.  
  
"I'm not as young as I used to be and It would be quicker to take the service elevator then to use the stairs." The middle-aged man said.  
  
"Good reasoning." Alex commented.  
  
"Where are the service lifts?" Ryan asked.  
  
"They're behind the main bank of elevators." The group moved into the service area that accompanied the service elevators.  
  
"I'm afraid that these are a lot smaller then the normal elevators, so we'll have to split into two goups and use two different elevators." Dr. Torrence said.  
  
"Okay, Zack you come with me, Ryan you go with Bax." Alex said.  
  
"Okay, see you guys at the other end." Ryan said as he stepped into the elevator car.  
  
Chapter Eleven  
  
The service elevator creaked to a halt and the single door slid open to reveal another darkened chamber.  
  
"Aren't there any working lights in this building?" Zack asked.  
  
"We're wearing them." Dr. Torrence said. They stepped out into the basement chamber that was colder than the lobby. The elevator next to them stood open.  
  
"Where's Bax and Ryan?" Zack asked, he looked around but couldn't see either of them.  
  
"Damn! I knew there was something I meant to bring!" Alex cursed as she mentally kicked herself.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The radios." She grinned sheepishly.  
  
"It's too late for that now, we have to find Ryan and Bax, they could be in danger!" Zack shouted.  
  
"Who could be in danger?" A voice asked from behind them.  
  
"AAGGHH!!" Alex, Zack and Dr. Torrence jumped.  
  
"Don't do that." Alex scolded.  
  
"We've found a hole in the wall." Ryan stated, like it was a usual occurance.  
  
"Where?" Alex asked.  
  
"Over here." They followed Ryan and found Bax shining his torch into a hole that went on into the ground.  
  
"That certainly wasn't meant to be there." Zack commented as he kicked chunks of debris with his boot.  
  
"Well, do we want to make the classic movie mistake and go on through the hole?" Bax gestured into the gloom.  
  
"Well, we haven't obeyed the laws of movies before so why should we now?" Alex grinned. They proceeded into the opening. Stray wires and piping stuck out of the raw walls and got more cluttered the deeper they went.  
  
"Whatever did this has some serious claws." Ryan felt the wall of the tunnel. The end of the tunnel loomed into sight.  
  
"How far down does this tunnel go?" Bax asked.  
  
"It may very well reach down to the Subway system, or even the sewars depending on the angle of inclination." Dr. Torrence examined the pieces of metal pipework that made up New York's gas and power lines.  
  
"I'm worried, if we keeping going further down then what happens if we can't find a way back?" Zack asked.  
  
"It's best not to think of that." Bax said in a neutral tone.  
  
Chapter Twelve  
  
The torchlight glinted off of the dull, grey metal. The group slowly climbed down the pile of broken concrete and shattered ceramic tiles to the concrete floor.  
  
"Oh Christ, how many more chambers are we going to go through?" Ryan asked.  
  
"No more, it's here." Alex commented as she studied the readings on the meter.  
  
"What is this place?" Bax asked as he examined the machine that dominated half of the room.  
  
"Lady and Gentlemen, may I welcome you to the once great New York Subway System." Dr. Torrence gestured around the room.  
  
"I've heard about it, it used to be one of the greatest underound railway systems until Manhattan was destroyed. It used to rank up there with the London Underground." Ryan studied the station sign that was made out of different coloured tiles. Enlarging parts of it with his bionic eye.  
  
"And the problem with the Subway is that it wasn't completely sealed up." Dr. Torrence said as he examined the subway train.  
  
"What?" Zack stared at him.  
  
"During the work that the government did on rebuilding Manhattan, the road and Subway tunnels off of the island were blocked up. But the tunnels on the island are open and can be used to travel across the city, all tunnels except those flooded or blocked by debris and crashed trains are still open. "It's a shame. This station is just one of probably several different examples of how brilliant the designs were. I would love to dig up the City Hall and Grand Central Stations." Dr. Torrence studied the track design.  
  
"It's moving." The quiet beeps that the PKE had been giving off were getting quicker and louder.  
  
"Does anybody hear that?" Zack was staring at another hole that lead onto the station platform, a series of thumps was heard, getting closer.  
  
"That's a very, bad sound." Bax said as Dr. Torrence crept back.  
  
"Alright guys, now or never. Cover the platform and set your particle throwers to high dispersion mode, wide angle. We want to cover the entire platform if we can." Alex spoke, a moan eminated at the far end of the tiled station.  
  
"Something wicked this way comes." Alex said as she switched on her Proton Gun. "Arm Proton Guns...NOW!" Alex shouted, the room begin to throb as the Proton Packs powered up.  
  
"It's here!" Ryan screamed over the loud hum of the nuclear accelerators. It crept out of the hole. It resembled an odd combination of a skinned wolf and a human, and was covered in what Alex could only guess was the ectoplasmic residue that Professor Spengler had mentioned several times.  
  
"Oh Shit! FIRE!" Zack shouted as he was forced back by the kickback, four beams of yellow energy with blue lightning shot towards the beast. It howled in pain as it was ensared by the beams.  
  
"Now what do we do? Sing to it?!" Bax shouted.  
  
"We trap it!" Zack shouted.  
  
"Good deduction Hawking, did you bring one?" Bax shouted back.  
  
"Yes!" Zack felt around the side of his pack and was rewarded when he found the large box that made up the trap. He threw it towards the beast, making sure that the he held onto the foot pedal. The beast snarled and writhed within the beam's hold, it was strong.  
  
"Uh-oh, he's trying to go back through the hole!" Zack shouted as he adjusted the beam length on his gun. The other Ghostbusters followed suit to compensate for the widening of the distance between them and the beast.  
  
"I've got an idea!" Ryan aimed his proton gun at a metal beam the was above the passageway that the creature had crawled through. The beam melted and collapsed, blocking the passageway and the beast's escape, it resisted less after the entrance had been blocked.  
  
"I'm opening the trap!" Zack shouted and stomped his boot on the pedal. A prism of white energy shot towards the ceiling as the four beams of yellow and blue energy pulled the beast towards the trap. It writhed in agony as it was sucked into the prism.  
  
"Now closing the trap!" Zack removed his foot from the foot pedal and the trap closed. The room darkened as the sources of light died. They stood in shock at what had just happened.  
  
"Did we just do that?" Ryan asked in a nervous tone.  
  
"I think so." Bax walked over to the trap and nudged it with his shoe, it sparkled a little but apart from the smoke and blinking lights, nothing else happened.  
  
"I guess it's official now, we are the Ghostbusters!" Zack and the others exchanged high fives.  
  
"Congratulations." Dr. Torrence smiled.  
  
"I need a pint." Ryan said as he slid down the wall and sat on the floor. Trying his best to understand that they'd just busted a ghost, a particulary nasty looking one at that.  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
  
Two days had passed since the bust at the Empire State Building, but the news was buzzing with word of the return of the Ghostbusters.  
  
"What I'm saying Sandy is that Manhattan and New York has regained an important business." A male guest on the talk show said.  
  
"It's a sham, the previous Ghostbusters wetr con artists and I say that this runs in the family." The female guest countered.  
  
"Well, It seems that New York's most famous heros have returned in a new form, to bring back the art of ghostbusting to the 22nd century. Are they con artists or heroes? Only time will decide. I'm Frank Springer, thanks for watching."  
  
"Televison off." Zack said and the machine followed his instruction. "We've certainly made an impression haven't we?" Zack said as he leaned back in the chair.  
  
"Yeah, quite surprising." Ryan said as he loaded the provisions from his apartment into the cupboards.  
  
"Well it's a start, but we'll have to make sure we have a high success rate to stay in the public's good books." Alex typed onto her calculator as she double checked the plans for the new equipment.  
  
"Hopefully we'll have some easy cases as well." Bax studied blueprints of the Firehouse on the same table that Alex was working at.  
  
"And our first bust wasn't easy?" Zack asked. They looked at him with slight annoyance.  
  
"I'm just saying that hopefully we'll have busts that don't always involve us going underground to fight monsters." Bax said, he then turned back to the plans on the table.  
  
"How long do you reakon until we have the upgrade work finished?" Ryan asked.  
  
"Probably about two weeks, maybe less. It all depends." Alex said.  
  
"Well I declare a toast." They all gathered with glasses. "Taking over the Ghostbusters is probably the best thing to happen to us and we'll enjoy it for as long as we're members." Zack toasted their accomplishment.  
  
"Here, here." Ryan and the others raised their glasses to Zack's toast. Not knowing that they were being watched by a pair of careful eyes, he'd been there since they moved in. But he wanted to make sure whether these new people meant harm or good. He soon melted back into the shadows, it would be a while before they would find out about him. But until then, he would continue to watch them. 


End file.
